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» Rosemary Drisdelle - Should We Wipe Out Mosquitoes?

Hi John,
Everything has its place in the web of life. Much as I dislike them, I often wonder if it would be a big mistake to wipe out mosquitoes. What do you think the unintended consequences might be?

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» John Blatchford - Should We Wipe Out Mosquitoes?

In response to Should We Wipe Out Mosquitoes? posted by rdrisdelle:

I'm not sure about this one :-) I think there might be a very complicated set of links operating here. Many things must eat mosquitoes, and maybe there would be consequences there. Also the fact that mosquitoes have been around a long time suggests that they are deeply involved in lots of other relationships. It is always difficult to predict what might happen when one link is removed - I would suggest that we let them live on and buy insect repellant! :-)

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» Rosemary Drisdelle - Should We Wipe Out Mosquitoes?

In response to Should We Wipe Out Mosquitoes? posted by johnblatchford:

I thought you'd probably say that. :-) Without even opening a book, I know that birds, fish reptiles and amphibians all eat mosquitoes - I've been known to swallow the odd one myself. They're probably important. Still, I haven't heard that there were any environmental ripples from eradicating the screwworm fly in the southern US and Central America. It's probably all academic for the mosquitoe anyway: I don't think any eradication effort anywhere has been successful.
Cheers,
Rosemary Drisdelle

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